>>88986>But at the same time, I can walk into a grocery store with cash,Yes, cash is great for anonymity. I use it all the time.
But cash is only useful for physical stores, and the anonymity is limited by the fact that you still have to withdraw from your bank, and the exchange is physical and can be recorded.
But the latter problems are beside the point. Cryptocurrency can give you that anonymity online. You might have to buy it from Coinbase, but you can easily exchange it for untreaceable crypto and then back, without actually losing almost any money from it, and then you have the same anonymity as buying it from local bitcoins.
I'm not saying KYC procedures don't bother me, actually I don't think we should be forced to do that, it's a silly regulation.
All I'm saying is that in practice especially for someone who is just buying crypto, it shouldn't really make such a difference, since Coinbase probably does have better security than your average bank, whose systems are much older, and since you can anonymize your money afterwards. I only see these companies as "gateways", rather than being my "crypto bank" or "crypto wallet".
If you're happy losing money from doing a cash exchange, that's fine. But I don't want people to be afraid of crypto because they think it's either going to cost them a lot to use it or that it will cost them their privacy.
I have an account on Kraken, and I can convert my euros to crypto for just the cost of sending them a wire transfer from my bank (which is often free).
